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Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

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Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#91

Post by progval »

ddtaylor wrote: post #85
dessant wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do we have any recourse against this monopoly, other than voicing our concerns repeatedly while they ignore us? Can we launch a class action lawsuit against Google if they harm people by limiting consumer choice, and force us to be tracked everywhere using reCAPTCHA v3 and various other methods? Keep in mind that not sending your data to Google is not a real option, there are several government services, health care…

What is wrong with just not using Google instead?

As your parent comment wrote: "Keep in mind that not sending your data to Google is not a real option, there are several government services, heath care providers and utility companies using reCAPTCHA, you personal data either gets harvested by Google, or you're barred from accessing essential online services."

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#92

Post by foxes »

DavideNL wrote: post #75
foxes wrote: post #36

Time to remind everyone about searx [0]. It can use google results and you can run your own instance. [0] https://searx.me/ [1] https://github.com/asciimoo/searx

I get this error when i try to search in https://searx.me/ : Error! Engines cannot retrieve results. google (unexpected crash: CAPTCHA required) Please, try again later or find another searx instance. EDIT: https://github.com/asciimoo/searx/issues/729

Yep that seems to happen sometimes. Here is a list of other public instances.

https://github.com/asciimoo/searx/wiki/Searx-instances

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#93

Post by F00bart »

war1025 wrote: post #46
rapnie wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'll probably hand over your search data to Verizon then. Why not use e.g. DDG (or Searx as mentioned elsewhere in this thread): > DuckDuckGo's results are a compilation of "over 400" sources, including Yahoo! Search BOSS, Wolfram Alpha, Bing, Yandex, its own Web crawler (the DuckDuckBot) and others. > DuckDuckGo positions itself as a search engine that puts privacy first and as such it does not store IP addresses,…

Not something I'm particularly concerned about to be honest. My main point is that there are several completely adequate replacements for google, DuckDuckGo being one of them.

Lack of privacy is google‘s business model. So an alternative would require a different business model, or they‘d end up at the same place eventually.

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#94

Post by progval »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #45
Nokinside wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried these Firefox addons: Google search link fix https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/google-search... Google Search URL Fixup https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/google-search...

Honestly at this point I'd be more inclined to add the Google domain set to PiHole and treat them as hostile. Except I would have to greenlight those damn CAPTCHAs. Adding an addon feels more like gaslighting myself that they're not abusive really. Was bad enough when they "innovated" search by adding a JS redirect to every visible URL so what you saw wasn't what you got - just what you eventually got after they've l…

> Except I would have to greenlight those damn CAPTCHAs.

But you can't because they use google.com and gstatic.com.

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#95

Post by throw55443h »

DarkmSparks wrote: post #48
solarkraft wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not worth it. Just use DuckDuckGo or Searx.

startpage.com is pretty good to, been using that as my primary search engine for a while now.

Startpage.com is now owned by an ad company. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21371577

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#96

Post by paulryanrogers »

swebs wrote: post #89
jsilence wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would love to switch to DDG, but it consistently gives me search results that do not contain s search term at all, even when I wrap it in double quotes. So they give me thousands of non relevant search results.

Duckduckgo uses Bing search in the back end, which is dogshit. Alternatively, you can use Startpage, which uses Google results, but anonymized.

Is Startpage still anonymous? I thought they got bought by an adtech firm

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#97

Post by filesystem »

bsdubernerd wrote: post #74
bobsoap wrote: post #2

Remember AOL, anyone? And so, we've come full circle.

In my tech circle, almost everyone has switched to another search engine (ddg mostly, startpage, bing), which is quite telling. I noticed as I spot them in a search result page while together, not because they told me. This was an eye opener. I initially _had_ to because the search itself became unreliable for me (finding technical terms is now a frustration in quoting and checking for "missing from the page: term"),…

I have tried to switch to DDG as my primary a few times now. It works great for basic searches, but I still go to google when I’m troubleshooting something and need answers fast. DDG just isn’t there yet in terms of time-to-answer.

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#98

Post by yyyk »

dessant wrote: post #84
yyyk wrote: post #50

This is a purely anti-user move. No user gains anything by it, this actually helps phishing sites. Oh, and it happens to help Google's AMP effort, which can now pretend to be the original site even more effectively. Time to get everyone to use Duck Duck Go, and to get rid of those Google CAPTCHAs which are an even bigger data harvesting operation than search.

Do we have any recourse against this monopoly, other than voicing our concerns repeatedly while they ignore us? Can we launch a class action lawsuit against Google if they harm people by limiting consumer choice, and force us to be tracked everywhere using reCAPTCHA v3 and various other methods? Keep in mind that not sending your data to Google is not a real option, there are several government services, health care…

I think that just expressing our opinion, and doing what little we can will have an effect in the long run. Google is far from invincible - it still needs to answer to shareholders, and has (or will get) competitors and legal scrutiny.

Eventually, like previous major computer companies, its monopoly will weaken, and it will have to play a bit nicer.

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#99

Post by chillfox »

dessant wrote: post #84
yyyk wrote: post #50

This is a purely anti-user move. No user gains anything by it, this actually helps phishing sites. Oh, and it happens to help Google's AMP effort, which can now pretend to be the original site even more effectively. Time to get everyone to use Duck Duck Go, and to get rid of those Google CAPTCHAs which are an even bigger data harvesting operation than search.

Do we have any recourse against this monopoly, other than voicing our concerns repeatedly while they ignore us? Can we launch a class action lawsuit against Google if they harm people by limiting consumer choice, and force us to be tracked everywhere using reCAPTCHA v3 and various other methods? Keep in mind that not sending your data to Google is not a real option, there are several government services, health care…

The recourse you have available is writing letters to your elected representatives and if they fail to take adequate action then to vote for someone else who will take action.
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